I've now seen for the past couple of days on the news about a "remote-contolled roach." They use hissing cockroaches (those big ones) and cut off part of their antennae, then put electrodes into the antennae so they can shock the roach to get it to turn left or right. On the story, they said that some animal rights activists thought it was cruel, but according to the commentator, "entemologists say that though insects have nerves, they are not as complex as us so probably do not perceive pain in the same way." Anyway, it really aggravated me as I remember when people said that about any animal...I.e., you can hit your dog because it doesn't feel pain like you or me.

_________________A bunny's a delightful habit, no home's complete without a rabbit.--Clare Newberry

"entemologists say that though insects have nerves, they are not as complex as us so probably do not perceive pain in the same way."

people used to think this about babies; infants underwent surgery with no anesthesia or analgesics into the 20th century. now there's some evidence that newborns might respond more strongly to pain than adults. "probably" isn't really good enough for me. if it retreats from pain or reacts defensively when you inflict it, it perceives pain; our judgment of the extent of that perception is sort of irrelevant. so, yeah, if this is a thing, it's a shitty thing.

_________________"rise from the ashes of douchebaggery like a fancy vegan phoenix" - amandabear"I'm pretty sure the moral of this story is: fork pants." - cq

people used to think this about babies; infants underwent surgery with no anesthesia or analgesics into the 20th century. now there's some evidence that newborns might respond more strongly to pain than adults. "probably" isn't really good enough for me. if it retreats from pain or reacts defensively when you inflict it, it perceives pain; our judgment of the extent of that perception is sort of irrelevant. so, yeah, if this is a thing, it's a shitty thing.

Yeah, that's crappy too. I saw a study where after infant boys were cirumcised, they did not want to breastfeed and seemed to recover better if allowed to sleep. However, some also argued that babies don't remember the pain, so it's OK to inflict it. HUNH? Probably some people would argue that with the roaches too. I personally think even traumatic and forgotten occurences can cause psychological damage.

_________________A bunny's a delightful habit, no home's complete without a rabbit.--Clare Newberry